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Louisville vs. Memphis - Freedom Hall - Post-Game Quotes
February 09, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 9, 2005
Recap | Box Score | Notes
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
"I was afraid after watching our Birmingham game that defensively something like this would happen. We played the same type of defense but took much better shots in our offense and we got caught playing a much better team tonight. They were just a better team than we were on this night. They had a dominating point guard presence and he just had a great game tonight."
"The first 10 shots we took were terrible shots, now you get behind and now you press rather than what we call shooting the daylight off motion. We didn't enjoy passing enough in the first five or ten minutes of the game. We are a good passing team and we didn't create ball movement and player movement. Instead of running the offense, you hope to penetrate and then take a three, the pressure mounts and then that's what happens. The offense are things that we can cure but the defensive things are the things that concern me because that is two games in a row a team has shot 68 percent in the second half."
"Memphis deserves all the credit. They outplayed us at every position tonight. You have to give them credit, they just did a great job. They have been playing great basketball since their distractions left. Tonight they played their best basketball. That is a credit to their players. They are a very talented team, they are probably the most talented team that we faced this season."
"We have to get back to playing great defense. We haven't two games in a row and I knew it was coming, I just didn't think it would be this bad. We've been relying on making shots and when a night comes like tonight and its not there. We have to get back to basics defensively. Everything that could go wrong went wrong."
Memphis Head Coach John Calipari
"It was our day today. We played hard, we scrambled and we played hard on defense, but it was our day. We know they're a Top 10 team and we know how fortunate we were to come in and play that way. It was our day today."
"We chose to play a ridiculous schedule and my ego got in the way. With two freshmen starting, playing teams like Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Maryland was the dumbest thing we could've done. After looking at our schedule, do you really think we're a 14-10 team? I say this and we're 7-3 in our league and lost some games in the league that we wish we could have back with some guys out. But we chose to play a ridiculous schedule and it hurt our team. I apologized to our players and now we're going game to game."
"If there's one thing I've learned in this business, it's that you enjoy winning. The minute winning is a relief, you need to go home, stop coaching and retire. You must enjoy wins and I want my team to enjoy this win. We've just got to be more consistent and play under control. We were in control of this game and that's how my teams have played historically."
"They're a terrific team with terrific players. They're as well-coached as any team you going to see. They want to win a national title and play in the Final Four and they can still do that, but this was just our night. The sad thing is that we have to play them again 19 days and I'm trying to see if we can cancel that game. We know that we did okay tonight."
(On freshman guard Darius Washington) "He listens, he's coachable and he gives everything he has. He's a freshman folks and he's a young freshman. He's coachable and he tries and that's why I like him."
(On when he felt like his team had the game won) "With about 1:14 left in the game...I remember LSU-Kentucky and if you don't think that was in the back of my mind, you're crazy. I know what his teams' are capable of doing. With a minute or so to go, my staff said `we're alright' so that's when I felt good."
